A Little Dip Can't Hurt
by luverofjamesandlily
Summary: Hermione fell for George, hard. Now she's just trying to make her life a bit easier by not doing anything. But throw in a persistent Ginny, and that easy life may be far, far away. Read and find out how it ends!


**Hermione is a **_**little**_** out of character, but I really needed to write something that was like this, so please read and review anyway!**

I sighed, and stirred my coffee drearily. It had been a late night. I had stayed up till almost two in the morning, under the pretense of studying and doing some work. The real reason being George had been up in the common room too. Doing exactly what, I wasn't sure, but he had been there. I realized that this silly crush was just that, silly. But I couldn't seem to get over it. I still scolded him and Fred whenever they did some testing on the poor first years, but I think he could tell it was an excuse to talk to him. But then, maybe not. I could never tell when it came to him.

I almost spit out the huge sip of coffee I had just had as someone came and sat down next to me.

"Alright Mione?" George asked cheerfully as he reached for some food.

I hastily swallowed and replied," Yes, fine. Did you have to do that right when I had taken a drink of coffee?"

"Oh, but that's the fun part." He said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes and tried to hide a yawn behind another drink of coffee. It didn't work.

"Why do you stay up so late if all you do is yawn the next day?" He asked curiously. I gave him the excuse I'd been giving him since I'd started staying up with him.

"Studying. I need to get my work done." I said briskly.

"Surely you could go to sleep a little earlier?"

I glanced at him. "Are you saying you don't like my company?" I said, smiling, so he would take it as a joke.

"Of course I like your company. Don't be stupid. I just don't get why you work so hard. I'm positive that you would still do fine without all that work."

Oh, yes. It was work, but not the studying. It was the pretending to study while sneaking looks at and talking to him.

"Well, I can't afford to take that chance." I replied. I looked around at the other tables, which were empty for the most part, considering it was past the usual breakfast time. Thank goodness it was Saturday; otherwise I might have fallen asleep in class.

"Whatever you say, Mione."

"Have you seen Ginny this morning?" I asked, changing the subject. Over the summers spent at the Burrow, we had become very close friends.

"Nope, but I bet she's still asleep." He said, through a mouthful of toast.

"You're gross. But thank you." I added as an afterthought.

"Welcome." He replied, with a big smile, still full of toast.

I swatted his arm as I stood up and left.

"Hey!" He called after me. "That wasn't nice!"

"Sorry!" I called over my shoulder.

He just grinned after me and went back to eating.

I walked to the common room and found Ginny exactly where George had said: asleep in her bed.

"Ginny! Wake up." I told her, dodging the kick to my leg as she started to wake.

"What?" She asked, obviously annoyed I had interrupted her sleep.

"He came and sat by me at breakfast." She was instantly awake.

"But I was the only person in the great hall, almost, so he probably just didn't want to sit alone."

"God, Hermione. You always think of worst case scenarios! Just think for a minute that he wanted to sit by you." She told me, getting heated up.

"Sure, Gin." I rolled my eyes. She was convinced he liked me, deep down. She just needed to convince me to be bolder. Which wasn't going to too well for her, I might add.

"We've talked about this." She insisted.

"Yep." I said, and absentmindedly started folding a few shirts of Ginny's. What can I say? I'm a perfectionist.

"How would anyone date anyone if someone wasn't bold?" She asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"Maybe George should be the bold one." I retorted.

"Well, maybe he wants you to be the bold one!"

"Too bad. If I did say something, and he didn't like me, life would be hell. _Literally_." I stressed the last word to get my point across.

"I wouldn't let him do anything!" She said in exasperation.

"It's not him I'm worried about. It's Fred, Ron, Harry, and just about everyone else. I don't think he would make a big deal out of it, at least not after a while. But the rest of them..." I trailed off and shuddered.

Ginny grinned and got out of her bed, to enter the bathroom.

"Just wait there." Her voice called through the door. She emerged a little later, with damp hair and a fresh outfit.

"Let's go." She ordered. I didn't even protest, just got up and followed her. It was better than sitting in the common room all day.

But my thought changed completely when I saw that she was walking towards the lake, with a few familiar figures around it. I turned around, but she caught my arm and dragged my closer.

"Mione!" George called.

I smiled weakly, and then glared at Ginny, who, in turn, smiled innocently.

It turned out that besides George, Fred and Lee were also there.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked him.

"Not much. Fred and I are trying to come up with a different way to test our products, now that the first years are off limits." He told me, grinning.

"They were never _on _limits!" I said, also smiling. He shrugged and walked towards Ginny and the guys, towing me along with him.

Ginny gave me a look, the Tell Him Already Look. I just gave her a rather pointed look and then turned my attention to George.

He was finishing a story," And then the first year kept on throwing u…" He trailed off as he noticed I was listening.

"What I meant to say is that… the first year kept on throwing a ball against my chair."

"Sure it is." I nodded and rolled my eyes at his blatant lie. I seemed to roll my eyes a lot more around George than anyone else. Interesting.

After a while of talking with the guys, I broke away from the group and went to sit by the edge of the lake. I slipped my shoes and socks off to dip my feet in the water. It felt good; it was already warm, though it was still morning.

I flinched as George sat down by me, because I hadn't seen him come.

"That's the second time today!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry." He actually looked sincere, for about two seconds, and then his look turned mischievous.

"Wanna go for a dip?" He asked playfully.

I took one look at him and started scooting him away. "No. George, don't!"

He got up and lifted me up. "George, seriously, don't!" But he paid no attention to my cries. He dumped me into the water, but bent slightly so I didn't hit the surface to hard. I came up sputtering, and glared at him.

Then I realized I was wearing a white shirt. And I was soaking wet. Those two don't mix with three teenage boys.

I ran to Ginny, who handed me her sweatshirt that had been around her waist. Not to say she was sympathetic. The complete opposite, actually. She was smiling and smirking at the same time. I could tell what she was thinking. That he totally was flirting with me. But I wasn't so sure.

Now George came up. I put the sweatshirt on and zipped it up all the way.

"Sorry Mione." He told me, not looking sorry at all.

Childishly, I turned my head and walked towards the castle.

He groaned," Mione, don't be like this." I continued walking, and listened as his footsteps grew quicker, as he caught up with me.

"What's wrong?" He asked innocently. In response, I stopped walking and wrung out a section of my hair, and watched it drip onto the ground. "Oh, that."

"Yes, that."

"Look, I thought you looked a bit… hot." He grinned at me. "I thought you would appreciate a little dip to cool you off."

"Well, did you happen to think of the fact that I am wearing a white shirt?" I asked, looking at him impatiently.

"You're wearing a white shirt?" He looked sincere enough, but I could tell he was lying.

"Liar, you knew perfectly well what I am wearing."

"Oh, maybe." He said with a smile. I sighed and resumed walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?" He called.

I ignored him and continued walking. I heard him groan and follow me. This time he grabbed my arm and turned me to face him.

"What, George? I really want to go take a shower and get out of these clothes."

"How are you so smart yet so impossibly dense?" He asked, drawing me closer.

"I don't understand." I said.

"I like you!" He looked a little surprised that he had said that.

I was shocked. I'm pretty sure the shock showed on my face, because he glanced at me a bit worriedly.

"I mean, I didn't… I…" His ears were turning pink.

My mouth finally started to work.

"Well, that's a good thing, because I kind of like you too." My voice got quieter as I finished.

He looked extremely relieved and smiled. "Then you won't mind if I do this." he leaned down and kissed me.

I broke away and said, "I have a confession to make. I stayed up late to be with you, not do work."

"Really? I stayed up because you were still up." He replied, looking sheepish. "And you have no idea how long I've been waiting to kiss you like that."

I just smiled, and leaned up to kiss him again.

**Thanks for reading! I do apologize if you didn't like how out of character Hermione was, but this is how the story came out, and it really worked, in my mind at least, for her and George. So thanks again and pretty please leave a review! **

** Love, Allie**


End file.
